Storytelling Week 9: Neen-i-zu's Adventure

(Fairy - Artist Unknown)

In the great sate of Michigan, the Obbydooby forest was located. It was also the home to a quiet young lady named Neen-i-zu. She loved the outdoors and spent most of her mornings strolling around the beautiful landscape. Once noon hit, Neen-i-zu would trek over to Lake Superior to visit her friends. In most cases, the word “friend” would refer to other young women like herself, but not in this story.

Being the daughter of an Indian chief, her roots were in royalty, but her heart was with nature. After the womb, she had an instant connection to the greenery and animals around her. This curiosity frightened her parents, giving them a more anxious walk of life than they would have hoped. However, these emotions didn’t hinder the love they possessed for their only child. They loved her greatly and told her that as often as they could.

Neen-i-zu means “My Dear Life,” which was a more than fitting name for this lass. She had vigor flowing through her veins and bones that didn’t stay still. Always on an adventure, Neen-i-zu found creatures almost unimaginable to most humans. Her open mind allowed her to fully believe what she saw.

The first time Neen-i-zu journeyed to Lake Superior, she walked along the shoreline by herself. For hours she walked. The sun was about to set when she heard a few faint voices coming from behind her. She immediately entered fight-or-flight mode. Unsure where these voices were coming from, she became determined to find the source.

“We admire you Miss Neen-i-zu,” the child-like voice said.

Neen-i-zu immediately replied, “Who are you? Show yourself.”

“You must believe in order to see us Miss Neen-i-zu,” the voice told her.

“I do believe. You are frightening me though, so please come out from your hiding! I will not hurt you,” Neen-i-zu said.

With fear, the voices gathered together to decide their next move. The Puk-Wudjies stepped out of the bushes and walked to the feet of Neen-i-zu.

She was looking up, trying to spot the creatures that had been talking to her when she felt a tingling on her feet. Right when she peered down, she saw the little creatures. They were almost fairy-like, but she had never set eyes upon something this magical.

The Puk-Wudjies quickly spoke to calm her frightened face and told her they were fairies of the Obbydooby forest, but that she shouldn’t be scared. They were there to teach her about the spacious woods.

Author's Note: I chose this story because I wanted to change it up and almost create a completely new story! The original tale has the same characters and locations, but the plot was focused more on Neen-i-zu’s adventures with the little fairies. I wanted to create a story that focused on the beginning of Neen-i-zu’s life and her initial meeting of the fairies. My version also leaves the reader hanging at the end!

Bibliography: The Fairy Bride. Native American Stories. Mythology and Folklore UN-Textbook. American Indian Fairy Tales by W.T. Larned, with illustrations by John Rae (1921). 

Storytelling Week 7: The Wisest Lion

In the open prairie, Lion and Bloke (the Only man) were wrestling with each other along with the animals that slowly arrived to watch. They were having a gay ol’ time when the rain came pouring down. Not a second when by before the droplets of water were coming down like bullets instead of fairy dust.

(Lion - Photo by Namibia)

Both Lion and Man knowing exactly where they needed to go, ran their separate ways without daring to tell the other their ingenious plan. Lion first ran to discuss his plan with his Mother to get one last ounce of confidence.

She immediately asked him where he had been playing all day. To which he responded he had been wrestling the Bloke, the Man. Startled by his response, she gave him some insight about the creature of the man.

She said, “Be on watch when around the Man for he has evil intent swimming amongst his thoughts. He acts, walks and thinks differently than you and I, so keep your guard up and never visit him again.”

With his eyes rolling and his head held high, the lion refused to listen to his mother’s advice for he knew he was far wiser than his senile mother.

Not long after this conversation, the lion ran to the rain-field to hide behind a bush, in the hopes of beating Bloke to the secret spot.

Whilst this occurred, the mother of lion quickly met with Bloke to finalize their plan. Bloke was going to give lion a scare to make him listen to his mother for her gut told her that her son would not obey her command, which is why this trickery was a necessity. Finishing their conversation with a short, but meaningful handshake. The two grasped the other’s hand or paw and said a short prayer.

Lion had already made it to his bush where he anxiously awaited the arrival of Bloke and his white dogs. A whistling sound was coming from the distance, but it was so faint, lion couldn’t make out what it was. Before he could think much longer, Bloke was just feet away from the bush. Lion pounced for the Man’s head, but was struck by the white dogs in mid air. Immediately, the Man let off a shot with his pistol, hitting lion in the right shoulder. Leaving the animal to fend for himself, the Man informed the lion’s mother to go look for him by the secret bush. She met him with a helping hand and carried him back to their den.

While on man is a rarity, not all men share the same love for the lion. Be careful who you trust and hold on to your mother’s teachings.

Author’s Note: Lion Who Thought Himself Wiser than His Mother was a story from the South African Unit in the Mythology and Folklore UN-Textbook. The story is very similar to the one I just wrote, but it does not include a friendship with the mother lion and the Man, Bloke. I wanted to give the story more of a background so you see the relationships the characters have with each other even if all the characters in the story don’t know about it. The voice of the two stories is similar, but the lessons are slightly different.

Bibliography: Lion Who Thought Himself Wiser than His Mother. South African Unit. South African Folk-Tales. Mythology and Folklore UN-Textbook. James Honey (1010).

Storytelling Week 6: The Giving Moon

A young boy would wander around the empty desert every night in the hopes of finding some food to fill his hungry belly. He had run away from his parent’s compound just months before because he felt he had become a burden. The whole family worked extremely hard to provide food for each other, but many nights the family members would have to switch off who got their stomach’s satisfied for the night. It was a disheartening environment, so the young boy decided to leave in the middle of a summer night to start a life on his own. This would hopefully allow his family to be fed more frequently.

(The Moon - Photo by Gregory Revera)

Becoming weary and exhausted, and quite frankly very hungry, the boy started regretting his decision to leave his home. He had searched night after night for small animals to trap or for some edible plants to sustain his energy until the next day, but each dawn he became more discouraged with his endeavors.

Sitting on a small rock, contemplating about his next move, the young boy noticed a bright light in his peripheral vision. Not thinking much about it, he stooped even further; until the light became so bright he could not look away. The young boy slowly turned his neck and head to the left where he gazed upon the moon, just feet away from his body.

The moon gave a soft smile and looking straight into his eyes asked him, “Why do you hang your head so low, young boy?”

With a long pause before the boy replied, he said, “I have been searching the desert for food all night long and have failed to find any.”

The moon heard his reply with anticipation because she had watched him every night as he heartily searched the barren land. She quickly replied in her mellow voice, “Young boy, come closer to me, for I am made of meat.”

The boy looked puzzled.

“Yes, it is true! Come take a taste,” the moon told the boy.

Walking over and touching the moon, the boy took a big chunk out of the left side of the majestic circle. He put the piece in his mouth, but as he swallowed, he tasted nothing. Looking up to the moon’s eyes, the young boy was about to speak, but the moon cut him off with her laughter.

“Young boy, you must believe I am made of meat in order for my substance to taste like meat and sustain your bones,” the moon quickly said as she giggled.

The boy squinted his eyes, wishing for the moon to turn into meat and slowly placed another chunk of the moon onto his tongue.  

The boy screamed with excitement, “It worked!”

The boy turned into an old man out in the abandoned desert by the grace of the moon’s kindness.

Author's Note: This story was inspired by "Why the Moon Waxes and Wanes" from the Nigerian Folklore unit in the Mythology and Folklore UN-Textbook. In the story, there is a poor old lady who is starving and finds comfort in the moon's meat. Once the moon becomes so small, the townspeople get disappointed and angry. They end up stopping this exchange between the old lady and the moon, which leaves the woman hungry and the moon lonely. In my story,  I wanted to keep the moon character the same, but change the old woman into a young boy. After reading the original story, I was reminded of the children's story called The Giving Tree. I took the theme of the children's story and meshed it with the Nigerian folktale. 

Bibliography: Why the Moon Waxes and Wanes. Nigerian Folklore Unit. Mythology and Folklore UN-Textbook. Elphinstone Dayrell (1910).   

Storytelling Week 5: The Mosquito and Hen

The parrot said:

    Back in the 18^th-century, there was a pesky mosquito and feisty hen that had the most unlikely friendship. Both creatures lived on an almost abandoned farm owned by Mr. Rogers. The barn was a ghost town because many of the horses were starving or had already died, and the other animals had been sold, all except one hen (the mosquito wasn’t really owned by anyone since he had free reign to leave when his little heart desired). 

(Garden - 18th-century painting - Author: Mal)

       It was a hot afternoon day when the hen said to the insect, “I am about tired of starving everyday. 

       Mr. Rogers is a decent fellow and all, but a hen has got to eat. I’m planning on laying eggs soon.”

       The mosquito replied with a mischievous tone, “I am getting a bit hungry too…”

       “Don’t even think about sucking my blood!” the hen snapped back.

After a long, tiresome argument, the two agreed not to exploit one another, but instead find relief somewhere else. So they ventured to the neighboring farms to find some birdseed for the hen and a few healthy animals for the mosquito to feast on.

To the right was Mr. and Mrs. Larky’s farm. They had a few dozen cows and horses, but nothing more, so that option was out. To the left was the Grizzly Bear Farm, yes, the farm only raised grizzly bears for people to come out and shoot their game. We didn’t associate much with those people.

       The hen said, “You don’t really have to guess why,” as she rolled her wing around in a circle next    

       to her head.

The next option was a fit for them both – the Chumnut family who lived just across the street! They raised cows, horses, chickens, donkeys, rattlesnakes, cats – you name it, they owned it. After a long rest at dusk, the two decided to go out in the middle of the night to prevent someone from hearing them.

They were now steps from the fence blocking the green pasture from the busy road. The mosquito, riding on the hen’s head, gave the bird a tap on the noggin and told her to head on over. One step, two step, three step……

       “OUCHHHHH!” yelled the hen.

       She continued screaming, “I just had a lightening bolt rattle my whole body - organs and all!"

Not long after, the ranch man came out of his house to see this chicken toasted from the shock of the electric fence.

He scooped her fragile body up in his calloused hands and carried her to his barn, where he proceeded to feed the hen some birdseed. That was all she really wanted.

The mosquito returned to his 

old farm with an empty stomach. No pain, no gain.

Author's Note: The original story, “The Elk and the Ass,” in the UN-Textbook (2014), was about two animals venturing over to a farm to graze the field together. The ass got in a giddy mood and decided to sing. This act woke up the gardener and master of the house. They then decided to take them prisoner.

The narrator, the parrot in “Tales of a Parrot”, told this whole story. He told this story to teach his master’s wife a lesson.

I changed it up to teach a lesson, but one about working for what you want (no pain, no gain). While the two animals should not have gone over to the Chumnut Farm to steal food or animal blood, the hen had to go through a full body electrical shock in order to get fed. The mosquito left with an empty stomach because he didn’t have to go through any pain to receive food (blood). This version also had a much happier ending than the original story where the men took the two animals captive. 

Bibliography: The Elk and the Ass. (1801). UN-Textbook (2014). Tales of a Parrot. Ziya'al-Din Nakhshabi. 

Storytelling for Week 4: The Dream

While sleeping soundlessly in her champers, Queen Maya experienced the most magnificent dream that elated her spirits as she awoke. The dream must have been from the gods because an extreme amount of peace covered her soul, mind and body as she lived out her dream during her sleep. However, this wondrous thought made a turn for the worse as she continued on her day. As the saying goes, be careful what you dream for.

Due to her restful sleep, her bedding stayed pristine. Queen Maya woke up with escalated energy levels, so she decided to head to her husband’s office headquarters in the castle. Their home was made of the purest gold and could house close to a 1,000 people with the amount of room is encompassed.

Stepping out of her immaculate bed and slipping on her house shoes, she rushed to her husband, King Suddhodana, to tell him her dream. She began to explain, but became unsure of what she was about to say. Her dream had slipped her mind in the midst of her excitement.

Beating her head with her hands, she tried to remember the picturesque scene in the dream to help her remember the purpose of it all.

“Tap, Tap, Tap, “ went her knuckles to her pale forehead.

King Suddhodana, now annoyed by her interruption, dismissed her from his office, for he had a meeting with the King of Japan within the hour.

Queen Maya pleaded, “You have to believe me when I say I have never experienced this much serenity in my lifetime. Please, give me time to remember the dream. I long to tell you.”

Navel-gazing, she left his headquarters and headed toward her chambers to sit and ponder. After sifting through ideas for a couple of hours, she thought of one that might work!

“Wala!” Queen Maya exclaimed. I will enter my sleep again and the dream will come back to me.

At the same time, King Suddhodana had finished his stressful meeting, and decided to take a nap before he had to present an award just after lunch time. The king and queen had separate sleeping chambers, so the king headed to the third wing on the second floor, far away from his wife.

As they both simultaneously entered their sleep, the dream re-entered Queen Maya’s mind. She remembered the elephant, the gods, her pregnancy, once again. The gods were telling her she would give birth to a son, who would bring peace to the whole world. Standing on a cloud, she looked over her left shoulder to see her husband making his way toward her cloud. With their eye’s locked; they both understood what their future held. They would become the parents of the Buddha. But the price of his existence was for Queen Maya to die during childbirth, a sacrifice she needed to make to help save the world.

The dream became the most frightening blessing.

Author's Note: I created this story after being inspired by Maya's Dream in the Buddha unit. The original story is about Queen Maya having a dream from the gods about giving birth to the Buddha and telling her husband, King Suddhodana. For my version of the story, I decided to focus strictly on the first few paragraphs and make it more of a mystery of what all the dream entailed. The couple then meets in the dream. 

Bibliography: This story is part of the Buddha unit. Story source: The Life of Buddha by Andre Ferdinand Herold (1922). Maya's Dream. Mythology and Folklore UN-Textbook.

(Queen Maya's Dream, by Gandhara)

Storytelling Week 3: The Wild Animals

The Beasts of the Creation 

As Adam and Eve left the garden with their heads hung low, their misery dripped down their faces.  They no longer walked with courage, but made their shame and remorse known. The animals even knew their faults. Their disobedience left a stench in the fresh air. 

The couple dropped to their knees, praying and pleading with God to bless their new life outside the garden. Coming from napping under the green palms and taking walks with the hyenas, they feared their lives for the animals had grown to hate them. The creature’s love belonged to their Creator, and now that Adam and Eve betrayed Him, they became fierce. God no longer protected the humans from these majestic animals for his list of favorites had twisted.

  Instead of pity, God unleashed these beasts of the garden to freely roam and eat as they pleased.

Adam and Eve were making their way to their cave when they heard steps approaching them from behind. Not thinking anything of it, they continued down the path to their new rocky abode. Only a few more steps further and growls were released from these animals. The lion was leading the pack with the elephants and cheetahs following close behind. Adam swiftly turned over his left shoulder to see such a sight!

“Run,” he yelled. Both the man and woman sprinted literally as if cheetahs were chasing them. With sweat dripping down Eve’s brow, she started heavily breathing and having trouble catching her breath. Not long after this she unknowingly approached a single ivy branch growing out of the pebbles on the ground. She tripped, falling straight down, but before her face hit the ground, the pebbles opened to a mystical dark hole.

Adam ran until he hit the cave, but as he turned back, Eve was no longer in his sight. He now had the two options. He could run back, face the fired up animals and look for his love or stand praying for her life.

He started toward the smoky cluster when he stepped down into an abyss. “AHHHHYEEEOOOOOO,” Adam screamed as fell 1,000 feet down to a land of colorful, fluffy feathers. On his way down he blacked out having no idea where he ended up. His fear took over his thoughts until his eyes finally opened to the face of his beautiful wife, Eve, smiling and shadowing his body with hers. She leaned in and hugged his sweaty body so tightly to show her happiness and relief.

God had tested Adam’s sacrificial love for Eve, in which he passed with flying colors, leaving them both in a safe home amongst the feathers.

Author’s Note: “The Beasts of the Creation” from the Mythology and Folklore UN-Textbook (2014) comes from Genesis, the first book of the Bible. More specifically, the story is about Adam and Eve, the first human beings God created in the Garden of Eden. The original story is about Adam and Eve leaving their old home in the garden to live in a cave. They were kicked out because of their sin against God. He told them to enjoy His creation to its fullest, but to avoid The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. After being enticed by Satan who was in the form of a snake, Eve ate the fruit produced from the forbidden tree. While in the garden, the couple became friends with the animals, but once they left, the animals changed their attitudes toward the humans and became feisty. Adam and Eve prayed for God’s grace to protect them from the animal’s anger, in which His grace prevailed. I wanted to change the story around to shock the reader. In my version of the story, God did not protect them from the animals and gave the creatures free reign. This gave me creative freedom. The underlying purpose of the story continued to be grace, which is what I am using for the theme of my final Storybook.

 

Bibliography: The Forgotten Books of Eden, edited by Rutherford H. Platt, Jr. (1926): The First Book of Adam and Eve 7-8-9.

(Garden of Eden, by Jacob Savery)

Storytelling Week 2: Betty

In the beginning, after the plants and animals had been created out of nothing, God decided to produce a woman to care for the beauty within the Garden of Eden. He had made one woman before, but we all know how that turned out. He destroyed that story and started all over. God was not going to make a young, foolish woman again, but instead, a wise old grandmother named Betty. 

Betty had grey, luscious hair that flowed to the ground and never tangled. Her eyes, surrounded by her winkled skin, were as blue as the Atlantic Ocean. Betty enjoyed hiking up the ice-capped mountains as well as swimming in the lagoons buried within the valleys. Her breath was taken away each day by the beauty that surrounded her. Her wisdom somehow exceeded her old age. 

As she was headed to her garden one morning, she walked by the tree of knowledge of good and evil. She admired its large fruits, but she remembered back to the legendary guidebook from the good Lord above. This was a storybook of the first beginning that didn't work as well as planned. Betty was well read. There was only one book in the whole garden though so she had the time to read the guidebook 52 times during her off time. She was not going to let her sharp mind trick her own knowledge of the tree. 

She just skipped along and gave the tree no more attention, but as she passed, her curly hair got stuck on one of the roots and yanked her whole body to the ground. She gasped so loudly the antelopes and deer rushed to her side. As she inspected the knot, she began to get confused how her hair could get that tangled up in such a short amount of time. 

She told the antelope to gather some of the strongest animals in the garden to help her escape the wretched tree. After a few hours passed of pure struggles. Betty’s wisdom rushed to her brain and they prayed for help. Whala! God gave her the most brilliant idea. After gathering over the rhinoceroses, she gave them the instructions to uproot the tree. The two little fellows did as they were asked and used their horns to take the tree from the ground in only seconds. Betty thanked the polite, kind animals and continued on to the garden, with the tree attached to her hair. She used the opportunity to strengthen her neck muscles. Sin never entered the world, and the woman became extremely strong.  

(Garden of Eden, by Lucas Cranach)

Author’s Note: This tale was based on the first story of the Bible about Adam and Eve, which was written by Moses. The original story, Eve , was taken from the Mythology and Folklore UN-Textbook (2014). God made Adam and Eve as the first human beings to live freely in the Garden of Eden. They only had one rule, which was to not eat of The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, but after some time, Eve was tempted by the serpent and decided to eat of its fruit. After both Adam and Eve ate the fruit, they understood their depravity and nakedness. They were then driven out of the garden.

I created the story as if God realized his first creations were too young and stupid, so He needed to create older wiser people instead if He expected them to follow His directions. Now that He made Betty, a lovely grandma, there is no longer a need for other humans to destroy the beauty of the garden. I wrote the story with a twist in third person. I spoke to the audience to better connect with my reader.

The image is of God (in human form) talking to Adam and Eve amongst all the peaceful animals. There are other people in the image, but those should be discarded for the sake of my new version of the story of Eve. 

This story is part of the Bible Women unit. Story source: King James Bible (1611): Genesis 2 and Genesis 3 [LIBRIVOX AUDIO].

Week 1 Storytelling: The Mean Bully and the Child

On the playground one day, a small child named Charlie, in kindergarten at the time, was going down the legendary slide at recess. Some even considered this slide a roller coaster because of its fast speeds and steepness. This was the Rock-Your-Socks-Off Roller Coaster. It had been named by the fifth grade class when they were just youngsters in kindergarten.

Once recess was over, his class was being called in by their teacher Mrs. Nark because the older class had arrived for their turn. This small child just needed one more thrilling ride before he headed back in with his friends to finish the school day so he headed to the slide. As he climbed the tall ladder, he looked back to his kindergarten class in a single-file line and realized they had already started back for the classroom to begin his favorite subject, science. He loved this time of day, but the slide was more important to him at the moment, so he continued on.

Next thing he knew, a big first grader named George was following him up the steps to the slide. He knew he wouldn't get his turn because this big boy was a notorious bully. He would take Charlie's turn without even a second thought.

The small boy decided to tell George that the slide was broken because he had accidentally peed on the slide early in the day. The whole slide was smelly and wet so it probably wasn't worth his time. With disgust and disdain, the bully made a mean joke at Charlie's expense and headed back down the steep ladder.

The little boy clearly made up the story so he could go on the famous slide one last time that day. While the risk was embarrassment, he got exactly what he wanted and slid down that slide joyfully as ever. This young boy was becoming a strategic little fellow.



Author's Note: This story was based on the fable "The Wolf and The Kid," from The Aesop for Children with pictures by Milo Winter (1919). It was written by Aesop. The story is about a cocky little goat who thought he could fend for himself. While his family went home, he stayed in the pasture until it was dark. The Kid then realized the Wolf would come after him if he did not head home. The scared little fellow only got half way home before he saw the wolf. Knowing his near fate, he tried to trick the wolf by telling him to play him a tune so he could be merry one last time. To the Kids luck, the nearby dogs heard this sound and jetted to his rescue. The dogs ran the bad wolf away and saved the little goat from danger.

I decided to make the story about a little boy and a bully to make it more relatable to the readers. By twisting up the end of the story, it made a shocking conclusion that gave it more of a PG rating instead of a G.

A boy hanging off of a slide. 

"Boy Straddling Slide," by ImaSwedeStock.

 Source: Deviant Art.